Q. Just curious, your reaction to the suspension that John Moore was
given yesterday by the league.
COACH VIGNEAULT: Doesn’t matter. So I don’t have any reaction.

Q. Talk about Diaz, how he fits in there with Klein?
COACH VIGNEAULT: We have Diaz or Falk that are available to us
tonight. Diaz has played a little bit of left side. When he has, he has
been good. So we’ll make that decision come tonight.

Q. What are you expecting from the crowd tonight? One of the
biggest hockey games in 20 years at MSG.
COACH VIGNEAULT: You pretty much said it.
Should be exciting for everyone, fans, players, coaches, everybody.
It’s going to be a great game. Two teams that are competing real hard,
battling for every inch on the ice. It should be a lot of fun.

Q. Just knowing the way that Henrik bounced back in that Philly
series after being pulled in Game 6, what are you expecting from him
tonight?
COACH VIGNEAULT: I expect him to play like he always does. I mean,
he’s a great goaltender. He strives when the pressure is on. He knows
that tonight’s a big game.
I heard Benoit Allaire say when we walked in â€˜tonightâ€™s a big gameâ€™.
I think he picked up on that and we’ll be fine (laughter).

Q. Can you talk specifically what you like about Diaz, what he
brings to you?
COACH VIGNEAULT: He’s a good defenseman in the sense that he’s not
overly physical, but he’s got good instincts, he moves the puck well, he
can help us on the power play.
He’s going to be all right. I mean, every time we’ve used him this
year, he’s been good for us.

Q. Klein seems to be up in the play a little bit more lately. Has
that been a point of emphasis or is he just going with the flow?
COACH VIGNEAULT: Sometimes in a game, players — the situation
dictates that you either defend or you can attack a little bit more.
In Kleiner’s case, there’s been some opportunities for him to jump up
on the attack. Our D’s have the green light.

Q. Do you use that five-minute stretch in the second period in Game
5, especially where Nash was pressing the issue, as an example of how your
team needs to play?
COACH VIGNEAULT: We’ve moved on past Game 5. We’re focused on
tonight. We know how we need to play. We’ve gone through it with our
players.
Our players know the type of execution that they need on the ice.
They’re going to go out tonight and put it on.
Thank you.

*******************************************************

COACH MICHEL THERRIEN

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Therrien.

Q. Is there any regret about having Dale come back given that the
symptoms, obviously, came on after the game?
COACH THERRIEN: You’re presuming itâ€™s a head injury.

Q. Am I not correct?
COACH THERRIEN: You’re not correct.

Q. Is Emelin available tonight?
COACH THERRIEN: Game time decision.

Q. The crowd is going to be excited, wanting to jump on you early.
How important is it for you to keep the crowd at bay the first 10 minutes?
COACH THERRIEN: Both teams want to set the tone for tonight’s game.
But, yes, in the first 10 minutes, it’s always crucial. But I’m
going to tell you something, the entire 60 minutes is going to be really
important.

Q. I know you touched on it briefly, but can you explain the
difference and what happened between the third period for Dale, when he was
let back in the game, now not being able to play tonight?
COACH THERRIEN: Well, after the hit he went to meet the doctors, saw
the doctors. He was feeling fine about finishing the game.
For us, what is really important is player safety. This is important
for us. It’s been like that all season long. It’s not going to change.
For a player not able to play the next game, this is something that
we could see on a regular basis. You can see Stepan finished a game with a
broken jaw, get an operation the next day, miss Game 4, and came back after
his operation.
So those are the things that you see at this time of the year.
But right now he’s got a body injury. He won’t be able to play
tonight.

Q. Prust’s return is timely. What do you expect from him?
COACH THERRIEN: He’s going to be hungry to play. He’s going to go
hard. He’s excited about playing tonight.
We’re glad he’s back in our lineup.

Q. Can you share what the criteria a player has to meet to get back
out on the ice? As much as it’s commendable to say he felt fine, wanted to
play, any hockey player is going to want to get back out there.
COACH THERRIEN: Those are the things that I don’t know. As a coach,
I never get a concussion.
But one thing I trust, we trust our medical staff. We trust our
doctor. So when they’re saying that he’s good to go, he’s good to go.
But right now he’s having a body injury.

Q. How does your lineup change when you take Weise out and put Prust
in? What does that do to the look of your team?
COACH THERRIEN: You’ll see tonight.FastScripts by ASAP Sports

I like Diaz and would like Diaz here next year. I don’t like dropping him into the lineup as part of a righty-righty pair, especially with a little fear he might play like he’s trying to prove something to Montreal.

Carp, whats your take on reporters seemingly never laying it all out with “we saw Subban save Weise from a faceplant after the hit”? Feels like the start of the PEDs in baseball cycle all over again: Reporters stay quiet and don’t press for the good of the game / team / player (debatably) then get outraged later when outrage is in vogue.

MD, I think it’s one of those things where no matter what you say to Therrien, he’s just going to say it’s not a head injury. Literally every reporter is saying it was a head injury, despite Therrien saying otherwise.

_MD, I think it’s one of those things where no matter what you say to Therrien, he’s just going to say it’s not a head injury. Literally every reporter is saying it was a head injury, despite Therrien saying otherwise._

Yeah. And maybe its not a big deal what Therrien claims so long as he’s not playing tonight anyway. If he plays, that’s a major problem.

What a weird season. I want to go back in time and tell October us that in May, someone would say “the Zucc-Brassard-Pouliot line needs to get back to playing as well as they were so we can win one more game and advance to the finals” and people would be like “yup, they sure do”.

But that’s the point, Greg. The ref info actually matters. If Joanette was reffing those of us who know what that means would be horrified. Ref info is vital to the game because the NHL doesn’t have a pair of refs work the whole series. So each night we don’t know what type of game we are in for.

Those of us who live and die with every minute of this team are probably interested in that info.

Those of us who live and die with every minute of this team are probably interested in that info -manny
————————————

That’s a load of Crap but whatever.

Ive been living an dying with this team all my life. Trying being the best Ranger fan in a Central Canadian province. I am the best over here and I’d say I’d show a few over there about how to love a team . When people see Rangers in this city ..they think me.

Anyone remember Paul Stewart? He was the biggest Ranger hater ref this side of Joanette. He was on NHL Radio yesterday with the HNIC guys and he was ranting about how bad the coaches are for letting their players play this way and yap at the refs. He also said because there’s so many refs these days, players and coaches never develop the relationships that they had in his day, and it hurts the game. Leads me back to my theory that if there was one set of officials per series, you’d have better games.

BTW…the man sounds like he needs a few Valium. He sounds completely off his rocker!!

hey, if there’s a game 7 (and I don’t even want to really consider it, but…) is it Sat night or day? I have to go out Sat night (last bowling night of the season and we are bowling for 1st place), so I’m hoping for a day game.

Manny yea, that was his best idea. The man was definitely hopped up on something though!!

His idea was 5 minute misconducts for any player who embellishes. Three times misconducts for embellishment and you are suspended a game, Four and it’s two games. His reasoning is that players HATE losing ice time and if they are forced to, they might stop doing it. I would make them 10 minutes and a 2 minute minor that nullifies the original minor penalty on the opponent as well. After all in my eyes, it’s unsportsmanlike conduct. That would stop it.

In high school and college, I reffed youth soccer (ages 10-14). I could not believe the amount of diving that was going on, even at that level.

Before the games, I’d have to meet with both teams individually to do inspections, which basically was a league liability test (confirm the players were who they were supposed to be so we knew we had releases for them and make sure they were wearing shinguards and cleats.

While I was there I would tell the players I wouldn’t tolerate diving or faking calls. I told them it was a gentlemen’s game and I expected them to play like gentlemen. If I caught a player diving, I would talk to him after a whistle and warn him. If he did it again, he got a yellow card.

More importantly, the diving players built up a reputation with me, so that if there was a play I didn’t quite see that may or may not have been a foul, I would assume they dove and not call it. At the same time, I built up a reputation with the players that I wouldn’t accept diving. By the end of the season, nobody was diving in the games I was refereeing.

I don’t see why I was able to singlehandedly control diving in under a season for $15 a game but NHL refs can’t do this for enormous salaries.

I thought about that Doodie. My hope was that the league would review calls. Maybe a team could request a review and the league could determine a player had
Embellished (serious embellishments only) and give that player a strike.

Lucic – “next season I will kill every Hab ever to wear a sweater. I will use guns, knives, swords, baseball bats, grenades, tanks, atomic bombs, nuclear bombs, fire, and any other weapon I can find. I will feed their remains to alligators. Then I will have the alligators vomit and I’ll feed that vomit to s shark. Then I will force the shark to vomit and then I will eat that shark vomit. Then, I’ll vomit and incinerate whatever is left.”

Hi , Im Eric . Im so stressed out man. I can’t believe that we are in the stanley cup playoffs still. Im amazed!!! Ive watched us all year and we always suck!! I can’t even believe how we bush -leagued in ( opps a little Miami ). I love this team but I need to stay a sceptic so I don’t get hurt. I need to be prepared for the big HURT. I’m not letting this team ruin my xmas. and , and If I had a drury mobile Id drive on outta here really fast!! Im reaally hoping they win but I just wont show it.

BTW , that was all in fun . I love everybody on here . ALL MY FELLOW RANGERS BONEHEADS!! The only blog I’ll ever be on.

Here’s a name for you nostalgia fans: Clarence “Screaming Buffalo” Swamptown. I’ll never forget an exclusive interview in which Swamptown revealed that he calls his hockey stick the “Big Tomahawk,” and he usually refers to the opposing players as “the little scalps”.

And remember I went up to your room afterwards and you were dressed in chick’s clothes? Yeah, you had on this black bra with tassels! You were dancing in front of a mirror with this kinda zebra skin jockstrap.

One of my favorite insights Edzo and Pierre share is how Dustin Tokarski drops down to take away the low shot whenever the puck is within 25 feet of him. Sure, just about every goalie in the league has done that for the past 10 to 15 years but Dustin Tokarski is obviously responsible for popularizing that style.

They spent their own dough to get here, and they came here to see us! All right, let’s show ‘em what we got, guys! Get out there on the ice and let ‘em know you’re there. Get that “frackn” stick in their side. Let ‘em know you’re there! Get that lumber in his teeth. Let ‘em know you’re there!

Did anyone ever play Mutant League Hockey? It was a pretty awesome game. The rules were basically the same ones the Habs play with: special plays that can cause things to happen like making the puck explode when it is picked up by an opposing player, bribing the referee to call fake penalties against the other team, and land mines and holes on the ice.

And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying, “O Lord, bless this thy hand grenade, that with it thou mayst blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.” And the Lord did grin. And the people did feast upon the lambs, and sloths, and carp, and anchovies, and orangutans, and breakfast cereals, and fruit bats, and large chu…

Out of curiosity, how do the avatars even work? How is that gravatar/Wordpress site possibly linked to this one, and do they know what they’re getting themselves into? I hope the blog works tonite cuz Ima gonna beez on FIYA PLAYAH!

You are the only fans maybe in the history of the National Hockey League that will ever have this opportunity to see it twice. These no-talents will lose again and lose big. Boys, if I were you I would be so disgusted of that I would just throw up. It’s not going to come easy. This is a club that’s going to torture you. They are going to try and tease you. You are just going to succumb to them, just cry, just sob, just curl up and just weep. You do that because there is no question what the result is going to be tonight. Keep your hope aside. There is nothing that they can show you out there you haven’t faced a number of times. Right? Right!

The Kings are leaving body bags and police tape all over the ice. Guys in opposing jerseys have been struggling back to their feet for 19 games and counting. Great to see, until its us. I’m no soothsayer, but I see some concussion protocols in our future.

Don’t look at me Pru-sty unless you want me to get all Lucic with you.
Don’t be fooled by my Catholic education.
I’ll effing burn you like a match on dry leaves. When you cry for mercy, maybe I’ll let my dog PK piss on you.

CARP—good video. Glad you decided to shoot it in an illuminated area of the Garden. Your comments on the Habs, Therrien and the Department of Player Unaccountabilty were right on. LGR and LG Boneheads.